US 6,297,611 B1Granted

Robot having independent end effector linkage motion

AssigneeGenmark Automation, Inc.

InventorsAlexander Todorov, Zlatko Sotirov, Mila Genov

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Abstract

A substrate handling system comprises a robot containing mico-environment in communication with a plurality of processing stations. The robot has a robot arm comprising an end effector linkage mounted to an extensible linkage. Each of the linkages is independently actuatable using an associated motor, with the extensible linkage serving to convey the end effector linkage to the vicinity of a target processing station for delivery or retrieval of a substrate. Motion of the linkages may be synchronized to reduce travel time, and multiple end effectors may be mounted to the extensible linkage for increasing throughput.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A robot comprising:

a frame;
and
a robot arm comprising:
an extensible linkage mounted to the frame, the extensible linkage including a plurality of links mechanically connected to one another;
an extensible linkage motor mechanically connected to the links of the extensible linkage such that rotation of the extensible linkage motor translates a mounting portion of one of the links of the extensible linkage along an extensible linkage trajectory;
one or more end effector linkages movably mounted to the mounting portion of the extensible linkage, each end effector linkage including an end effector and a plurality of links mechanically connected to one another;
and
an end effector motor associated with each end effector linkage and mechanically connected to the plurality of links of the end effector linkage such that rotation of the end effector motor translates the end effector along an end effector trajectory,
wherein the extensible linkage motor and each end effector motor are independently actuatable such that motion imparted to the extensible linkage by the extensible linkage motor is independent of motion imparted to each end effector linkage by each associated end effector motor.

6 more elements

A substrate handling system comprising:

a micro-environment enclosure;
one or more processing stations in communication with the micro-environment enclosure;
and
a robot enclosed within the micro-environment enclosure, the robot comprising:
a frame;
and
a robot arm comprising:
an extensible linkage mounted to the frame, the extensible linkage including a plurality of links mechanically connected to one another;
an extensible linkage motor mechanically connected to the links of the extensible linkage such that rotation of the extensible linkage motor translates a mounting portion of one of the links of the extensible linkage along an extensible linkage trajectory;
one or more end effector linkages movably mounted to the mounting portion of the extensible linkage, each end effector linkage including an end effector and a plurality of links mechanically connected to one another;
and
an end effector motor associated with each end effector linkage and mechanically connected to the plurality of links of the end effector linkage such that rotation of the end effector motor translates the end effector along an end effector trajectory,
wherein the extensible linkage motor and each end effector motor are independently actuatable such that motion imparted to the extensible linkage by the extensible linkage motor is independent of motion imparted to each end effector linkage by each associated end effector motor.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.